Gattonside

{{Short description|Village in Scottish Borders, Scotland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use British English|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox UK place | official_name = Gattonside | country = Scotland | static_image_name = Main Street, Gattonside - geograph.org.uk - 3065974.jpg | static_image_caption = The main road through Gattonside | area_total_sq_mi = | area_total_km2 = | area_footnotes = | population = 381 | population_ref = (2001)<ref>{{cite report |title=Local Development Plan Volume 2 |publisher=Scottish Borders Council |pages=328–330 |date=2016}}</ref> | population_density =  | os_grid_reference = NT544350 | map_type = Scotland | coordinates = {{coord|55.607|-2.726|display=inline,title}} | post_town = MELROSE | postcode_area = TD | postcode_district = TD6 | dial_code = 01896 | constituency_westminster = Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk | civil_parish = Melrose | edinburgh_distance_mi = 30 | edinburgh_distance_km = | edinburgh_direction = NW | london_distance_mi = 303 | london_distance_km = | london_direction = SE | gaelic_name = | scots_name = | community_scotland = Melrose and District | unitary_scotland = Scottish Borders | lieutenancy_scotland = Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale | constituency_scottish_parliament = Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale }}

'''Gattonside''' is a small village in the Scottish Borders. It is located {{convert|1|km}} north of Melrose, on the north side of the River Tweed. In 1143, the lands of Gattonside were granted to the monks of Melrose Abbey by David I of Scotland.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townhistory3486.html |title=Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical |editor=Groome, Francis H. |year=1885 |accessdate=2010-07-01}}</ref>

Modernist architect Peter Womersley lived in Gattonside at his self-designed house, The Rig, completed in 1957. The Rig was designated as a Category B listed building on 17 April 2007 as a "fine example of domestic house built by Peter Womersley".<ref name=":0">{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB50861|desc=Gattonside, The Rigg|cat=B|access-date=2019-03-20}}</ref>

The village is linked to Melrose, on the opposite side of the River Tweed, by the 19th-century Gattonside Suspension Bridge, built in 1826. The plantation owner, Robert Waugh of Harmony Hall was a shareholder who on his death in 1832 left his shares to the poor of Melrose.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Summary of Individual {{!}} Legacies of British Slavery|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/1342713201|access-date=2021-06-11|website=www.ucl.ac.uk}}</ref> The bridge was designated as a Category A listed building on 15 March 1971. Its listing was amended to Category B in 1998.<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB37744|desc=Chain Bridge|cat=B|access-date=2019-03-20|fewer-links=yes}}</ref>

==Gattonside House== {{main|Gattonside House}} left|thumb|Gattonside House in 2008. Gattonside House is a 19th-century country house in Gattonside, built between c.1808–1811 in the Classical style.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Cruft|first=Kitty|author-link=Catherine Cruft|title=Borders|last2=Dunbar|first2=John|last3=Fawcett|first3=Richard|author-link3=Richard Fawcett|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2006|isbn=0300107021|location=London|pages=318-319|language=en-GB}}</ref> The earliest recorded owner is James Brown (d. 1816), owner of a Jamaican coffee plantation.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 April 1816|title=Deaths|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001476/18160423/017/0004|url-access=subscription|access-date=6 February 2026|newspaper=London Courier and Evening Gazette|pages=4|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> The house was occupied between 1821 and 1824 by Sir Adam Ferguson, Deputy Keeper of the Scottish Regalia and close friend of Sir Walter Scott.<ref name="LB12052">{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB15103|desc=Gattonside House including chapel, former coach house, cottage, walled garden and boundary walls.|cat=B|access-date=5 February 2026}}</ref> The following owner of the property, retired banker George Bainbridge (c.1788–1839), employed local architect John Smith to enlarge it.<ref name="LB12052" /> Following Bainbridge's death in 1839, the house had a number of occupiers, and from around the early 1890s appears to have been leased to tenants by Henry Mungall (c.1843–1911), a local provost and manager of the Fife Coal Company.<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 December 1911|title=The Border Counties|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000469/19111214/011/0003|url-access=subscription|access-date=6 February 2026|newspaper=Southern Reporter|pages=3|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> On Mungall's death, the property was sold to Edward Ebsworth (c.1848–1915) who commissioned Robert Lorimer to extend and alter it.<ref name=":4" /> The house was sold by Ebsworth's relatives in the 1920s,<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=16 July 1921|title=Gattonside House, near Melrose|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/9900007/19210716/072/0028|url-access=subscription|access-date=6 February 2026|magazine=Country Life|pages=28|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> following which it was owned by Captain Francis Montgomerie (1887–1950), younger son of the Earl of Eglinton and Winton, whose family left in 1951.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 July 1923|title=Sales of Work|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19230723/321/0008|url-access=subscription|access-date=7 February 2026|newspaper=The Scotsman|pages=8|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=31 May 1952|title=Sales By Auction|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19520531/303/0009|url-access=subscription|access-date=6 February 2026|newspaper=The Scotsman|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Following a brief period of occupation by John Morgan,<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 June 1952|title=New Address|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1147235507/?match=1&terms=%22Gattonside%20house%22|url-access=subscription|access-date=27 June 2025|newspaper=South Wales Argus|pages=2|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> the property was bought by the Brothers of Charity, who ran the house as St. Aidan's Care Home for the Mentally Handicapped from 1953 until 2009.<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 December 1953|title=Gattonside Residents Nervous|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002162/19531218/059/0004|url-access=subscription|access-date=6 February 2026|newspaper=Jedburgh Gazette|pages=4|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Kelly|first=Paul|date=22 August 2024|title=Claim of 'deliberate neglect' over historic Gattonside property|url=https://www.midlothianview.com/news/claim-of-deliberate-neglect-over-historic-gattonside-property|access-date=6 February 2026|work=Midlothian View}}</ref> From the institute's departure in 2009, the property fell into a state of disrepair, and as of 2024 it was estimated that replacing the damaged roof alone would cost £850,000.<ref name=":1" /> In 2025, the property was bought by Fortis Homes, a development firm, which announced plans to convert the house into apartments, and use its grounds to build new housing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gattonside House restoration bid unveiled |date=11 November 2025 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy7e303z500o|access-date=7 February 2026|website=BBC News}}</ref> The house was designated as a Category B listed building on 15 March 1971 as "a well-detailed early 19th-century Classical villa".<ref name="LB12052" />

== Notable residents ==

* Neil Murray, bassist who was born in Gattonside.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Knox |first=David |date=26 February 2026 |title=Former Black Sabbath and Whitesnake guitarist joins am-dram group |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg1vyp882mo |access-date=28 February 2026 |website=BBC Scotland News |language=en-GB}}</ref> * Peter Womersley, architect who lived at his self-designed Gattonside house, The Rig.<ref name=":0" />

=== Residents at Gattonside House ===

* Sir Adam Ferguson, Deputy Keeper of the Scottish Regalia.<ref name="LB12052" /> * General Alexander Duncan, officer of the East India Company army in Bengal.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 September 1845 |title=Game Certificates |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001177/18450910/001/0001 |url-access=subscription |access-date=6 February 2026 |newspaper=Edinburgh Evening Post and Scottish Standard |pages=1 |via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> * Patrick Fraser, Lord Fraser, Senior Lord-Ordinary of Edinburgh Court of Session.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnati20stepuoft/page/n5/mode/2up |title=Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Smith, Elder & Co. |editor-last=Stephen |editor-first=Leslie |editor-link=Leslie Stephen |volume=XX |location=London |pages=215–216 |language=en-GB}}</ref> * Captain George Swinton, politician.<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 December 1915 |title=Court Circular |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000174/19151206/080/0007 |url-access=subscription |access-date=6 February 2026 |newspaper=Morning Post |pages=7 |via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> * John Morgan, 6th Baron Tredegar, peer and landowner.<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 June 1952 |title=New Address |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1147235507/?match=1&terms=%22Gattonside%20house%22 |url-access=subscription |access-date=27 June 2025 |newspaper=South Wales Argus |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

== Gallery == <gallery heights="100"> File:The Rigg - view from SW.jpg|Peter Womersley's self-designed home, The Rig, 2016. File:Chain Bridge, Melrose - geograph.org.uk - 6608735.jpg|Gattonside Suspension Bridge in 2020. </gallery>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == {{commons category}} {{authority control}}

Category:Villages in the Scottish Borders